1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel water-dispersible agrochemical formulations such as, for example, water-based suspension concentrates and water-dispersible granules of agrochemically active compounds, to a process for preparing these formulations and to their use for applying the active compounds comprised therein.
2. Description of Related Art
To unfold their biological action, systemic agrochemically active compounds, in particular systemic insecticides and fungicides, require a formulation which allows the active compounds to be taken up by the plant/the target organisms. Accordingly, systemic agrochemically active compounds are usually formulated as an emulsion concentrate (EC), as a soluble liquid (SL) and/or as an oil-based suspension concentrate (OD). In an EC formulation and in an SL formulation, the active compound is present in dissolved form; in an OD formulation, the active compound is present as a solid. In general, a suspension concentrate (SC) or water-dispersible granules (WG) are technically also feasible. Hereinbelow, only suspension concentrates are described; however, this is meant to include other types of formulation where the active compound is present in a water-dispersible form. However, to achieve a satisfactory biological action when using SC formulations, it is necessary for the active compound in the SC to be combined with an additive. In this context, an additive is a component which improves the biological action of the active compound, without the component for its part having a biological action. In particular, an additive permits/facilitates the uptake of the active compound into the leaf (penetrant). A penetrant may be incorporated into the formulation of the agrochemically active compound (in-can formulation) or be added after dilution of the concentrated formulation of the spray liquor (tank-mix). To avoid dosage errors and to improve user safety during application of agrochemical products, it is advantageous to incorporate the penetrants into the formulation. This also avoids the unnecessary use of additional packaging material for the tank-mix products.
Some water-based suspension concentrates of agrochemically active compounds comprising penetrants are already known. Thus, WO 05/036963 describes formulations of this type which, in addition to certain fungicides, also comprise at least one penetrant from the group of the alkanolethoxylates. WO 99/060851 describes various alkanolethoxylates based on fatty alcohols.
A disadvantage of the formulations, mentioned above, with penetrants is the fact that, in particular in the case of application to leaves, fruits or other parts of plants in sensitive crop plants, such as pome fruit (for example Malus domestica, Pyrus communis), stone fruit (Prunus armeniaca, Prunus domestica, Prunus persica), citrus crops, vegetables, such as, for example, bell peppers (Capsicum annuum) and cantaloupes (Cucumis melo), and also ornamental plants, such as roses, the spray liquor residue left after application and drying of the spray liquid may cause damage to the plants.
Furthermore, Pest. Manag. Sci. 58:825-833 (2002) discloses triglyceride ethoxylates (Agnique® RSO series) which are recommended for use as tank-mix penetrants for systemic water-soluble agrochemically active compounds. As an advantage of these auxiliaries, the plant compatibility on weeds was mentioned. This is characterized by having no effect on photosynthesis, which is advantageous for the systemic action of phloem-mobile active compounds such as glyphosate. However, the spray liquor concentrations required for a satisfactory uptake of active compound were between 1 and 10 g/l, which is incompatible with an in-can formulation.
US 2002/01 55954 mentions triglyceride ethoxylates which reduce the surface tension of the spray liquor to less than 40 mN/m as additives. In this application, the triglyceride ethoxylates are described in an in-can formulation. However, because of their origin, the castor oil-based triglyceride ethoxylates described in this publication differ significantly, structurally, from the triglyceride ethoxylates according to the invention. Castor oil is a vegetable oil which has a hydroxy functionality in the aliphatic side chains, therefore requiring an additional ethoxylation in this position. This is in contrast to the triglyceride ethoxylates according to the invention which are ethoxylated only between the glyceride unit and the various aliphatic side chains.